


The Little Door

by DeadpoolIsMySenpai



Category: Coraline (2009), Coraline - All Media Types, Gravity Falls
Genre: AU where Coraline moves to Gravity Falls instead of Ashland, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6099060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadpoolIsMySenpai/pseuds/DeadpoolIsMySenpai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Mabel have seen a lot of crazy things in their summer in Gravity Falls. So when their friend Coraline informs them she was able to go to a perfect world through a small door which is sealed by bricks during the day, well...that's just something they had to investigate.</p><p>And with Gravity Falls' nature, chances are this world is hiding something...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Strange Night + The Cautious Dipper

It was a normal-ish working day at the Mystery Shack. Wendy was on cash register (AKA flipping through the pages of a magazine), Grunkle Stan was in his office counting his profit, Dipper and Mabel were taking inventory on the merchandise, and Soos was on his lunch break.

"How many Grunkle Stan bobbleheads do we have?" Mabel asked her brother, holding a pencil and a notepad.

"Six." Dipper replied.

"Again? How is that possible? We had six last month!"

"Mabel, who honestly wants a Grunkle Stan bobblehead?" Dipper questioned, rolling his eyes.

"How could you  _not_ want one? Anyways, how many postcards do we have?"

"Let me check." Dipper stated, walking over the postcards and mumbling numbers as he flipped through them. "Twenty-two."

"Ah, we had a decrease!" Mabel cheered, doing a little dance of celebration. "There were twenty-seven last month."

"Postcards tend to be the only thing that sells around here." Dipper muttered, walking over to the magazines to take inventory on them. "Good thing Stan charges so much for a tour or else he'd be in serious financial trouble."

Just as it seemed like their day would remain uneventful, the twins were delighted by the appearance of their friend Coraline Jones through the front door of the Mystery Shack. She was just a tad bit younger than the twins, with navy blue hair running slightly below her neck. She was wearing her signature outfit: a plain black short-sleeved T-shirt and blue shorts. Mabel asked why she kept her signature outfit so plain once, to which her reply was "I don't like change. Or standing out."

"Hey guys." Coraline said. "What's up?"

"Coraline!" Mabel cheered. "Thank goodness you're here. You're the only person who can make inventory fun."

"Hehe, thanks."

Over their short time at Gravity Falls, Mabel and Coraline had established almost a sister-like bond. Coraline had just been forced to move to Gravity Falls from her happy home in Michigan, leaving all of her friends behind in the process. She lived in a rusty old apartment, and from the very little Mabel had seen of her parents they seemed...well, stuffy.

So it was understandable when Dipper and Mabel met Coraline, she seemed quite melancholy. However, Mabel made it her goal to make Coraline jolly again from the moment she met her, as Mabel didn't like to see anyone unhappy.

And from her special Mabel charm, it seemed to be working.

"Oh, uh...hey, Coraline." Dipper said, looking up at the ceiling as he spoke to Coraline. 

"Hey, Dipper." Coraline replied, doing the same. Mabel frowned at the two.

For whatever reason, Dipper's relationship with Coraline had been quite awkward since they met her. He didn't even remember why, but Dipper must've said something awkward or something, because whenever he was in the same room with Coraline the tension increased significantly.

"Anyways, there's actually a reason I came here." Coraline explained. "Not just for entertainment. Something... _weird_ happened inside my apartment."

"Ooh! We're good with weird stuff!" Mabel excitedly exclaimed. "Right, Dipper?"

"Uh, yeah, right." Dipper said awkwardly.

"Well, um...gee, how do I put this? It sounds crazy even to me." Coraline stated.

"Don't worry about it, Coraline." Mabel replied. "We've fought an army of gnomes before, remember? Nothing's really crazy to us."

"Well, I guess I'll try," Coraline began. "There's, like, this door in a cabinet in our house. It looked really interesting, so I had my mom unlock it during the day, but it was being blocked by bricks. My mom said they probably closed it off when they divided the house. She got mad at me when I asked why it was so small, though."

"Interesting." Mabel said, taking Dipper's pen he was using to take inventory and tapping it on her chin to appear studious.

"It gets more interesting." Coraline continued. "That night, I followed this mouse. It went right to where the door was...and this time, there were no bricks. I went through the door, and it took me to this crazy place. Like, in this place, my parents were cool! And they had the most delicious food. My dad, he played the piano and it sounded amazing! And like...this possibly sounds like the weirdest part, but I could talk to my old friends through that picture of them I had in my room."

"Whoa." Mabel exhaled, as Dipper simply rolled his eyes.

"Except when I woke up, I was home again." Coraline said, finishing her story.

"I don't think that's crazy, Coraline." Dipper stated. "I believe that you had this thing called a dream."

"Dipper, don't be sassy." Mabel whispered to her brother, nudging him.

"No, Dipper. I  _know_ it was real." Coraline spat at him, giving him an incensed glare. "Mabel, do you remember the poison oak I showed you that I got walking through the forest?"

"Yeah, I remember." Mabel replied. "Last time you were here it looked kinda...yikes."

"I know. But look at it now!"

Coraline showed her arms to Mabel, who ooo-ed and aah-ed.

"Who knows? Maybe it was real." Mabel stated, smiling at Coraline.

"Give me a break." Dipper muttered. "I'm a believer in the supernatural, but this doesn't sound supernatural to me. It just sounds like...well, a dream."

"Fine, I'll prove it." Coraline replied, smirking at Dipper. "Come with me to my apartment."

"Right now?" Dipper asked. "But we're working..."

"Grunkle Stan, we're going on our lunch break!" Mabel yelled into the other room.

" _You've got twenty minutes!"_ Grunkle Stan yelled to Mabel from his office.

"Alright, let's get going!" Mabel exclaimed, running out the front door of the Mystery Shack. Coraline followed behind her. Dipper sighed and hesitantly accompanied the two.

* * *

 

Thankfully, Coraline's apartment was just a short walk down from the Mystery Shack, and it didn't take them more than five minutes to arrive at Coraline's apartment. 

"Hey, mom." Coraline said, waving to her mom in the kitchen. "My friends are just gonna be here a second."

"Alright, dear." Coraline's mom replied, tapping rapidly on her laptop and barely acknowledging her daughter's existence. "Just don't be loud."

Coraline went into the drawing room, Dipper and Mabel following behind her. There, they saw the small, white door Coraline was talking about.

"See?" Coraline asked, turning around and opening the door.

"Uh, Coraline...it's bricked up." Dipper stated.

 _"What?!"_ Coraline exclaimed, turning back around and seeing that the door was indeed blocked by bricks again. "How is that possible?"

"I told you it was just a dream."

"No...that can't be...my poison oak..."

"Just a coincidence."

"Don't worry, Coraline,  _I_ believe you." Mabel said, putting her arm around Coraline and glaring at her brother. "Maybe it's only uncovered at night?"

"Huh?" Coraline asked. "You mean like in one of those weird movies where things only go eerie at night?"

"Exactly."

"Oh, come on." Dipper said. "The bricks are going to just magically move at night?"

"Only one way to find out." Coraline stated, then changing the tone of her voice to a whisper, leaned in towards Mabel. " _How about you guys sneak out to my apartment tonight?"_

 **"Sneak out?!"** Mabel exclaimed, Coraline quickly covering her mouth. "Sorry. It's just, I've never done anything like that before. It sounds crazy."

"You'll be fine." Coraline replied, smiling at Mabel. "We can map out a foolproof plan. And besides, your grunkle is cool. He might even be proud if you guys snuck past him."

Dipper rolled his eyes, looking down at a notepad and pretending to write something down out of boredom. He couldn't believe they were seriously doing this...


	2. The Sneakout + The Adventure

_"Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're doing this."_

Mabel had been doing nothing but nervously muttering slightly-varied versions of the above statement ever since she and Dipper had talked with Coraline about sneaking out.

"We really _shouldn't_ be doing this." Dipper replied, sighing as he changed into his pajamas, having been acting perfectly natural around Grunkle Stan and making sure Mabel didn't slip for the rest of the day. 

It had been admittedly harder than expected.

* * *

_"So, kids, got any plans for the rest of today?" Grunkle Stan asked, yawning as he took a handful of popcorn while watching **Perish Soft** (edited for time and content) on the Gravity Falls Cheap Licensed Action Movie Channel._

_"No!" Mabel exclaimed, immediately beginning to sweat. "What? Who told you?! They're a liar! A LIAR!"_

_Grunkle Stan gave his niece a bewildered look._

_"Don't mind Mabel." Dipper quickly butted in. "She just got into the Smile Dip again."_

_Grunkle Stan sighed. "Really? For something that's banned in America, they sure seem to have a heck of a lot of it in random places."_

_That was a close one._

* * *

"I can do this." Mabel repeated to herself in a low voice, slightly shaking on her bed. "You can do this, Mabel. You're twelve. Almost a teenager. It's time to live!"

Dipper groaned. "It's really not that big a deal, Mabel. It's Grunkle Stan. He didn't even catch on when you and I swapped bodies. And he's a heavy sleeper. Everything's going to be okay."

Mabel frowned. "You're way too casual about this, Dipper. Almost like you've done it before..."

"You're nuts. Like I've ever had anywhere to sneak out to."

"Hmm...good point."

_"You weren't supposed to agree with me!"_

 

* * *

After waiting a half hour or so to make sure their grunkle had fallen into a deep sleep, Dipper and Mabel began to put their plan into action.

Dipper very quietly opened the door of their room, going to the staircase and very carefully tip-toeing on the staircase down to the living room. Mabel followed behind him, then suddenly fell, her entire body taken over by anxiety.

"Mabel!" Dipper sort of whisper-yelled, grabbing his sister and helping her back up. "You okay? If you don't wanna do this we can-"

" _No."_ Mabel replied sternly. "I can do this. I am brave.  _I am Mabel Pines._ _"_

Dipper smirked and shook his head at his sister. "You sound like a bad public service announcement."

Mabel giggled, releasing some of the tension she had been building up all day thanks to Dipper.

Dipper could only hope that Coraline didn't send them out here for nothing. If she did, he was going to be more miffed at her than he usually was in the first place.

After exiting the Shack and walking a short distance, they went up to her apartment, where thankfully Coraline was waiting at the door for them.

 _"Glad you guys could make it."_ Coraline said in a whisper.

"Let's just get this over with." Dipper muttered, entering Coraline's apartment with Mabel.

As Dipper and Mabel entered, Coraline led them into the drawing room, going to the same door that had disappointed them before. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

Much to all their surprise, the bricks were gone, and the door was wide open for them to crawl through.

"Oh my gosh." Mabel stated. "You really weren't dreaming, Coraline."

"So the door's open." Dipper said. "That is kinda cool and weird that it just opens at night. However, it doesn't mean all that stuff about that place you were talking about is real."

"Guess there's only one way to prove it, huh?" Coraline asked rhetorically, gesturing towards the door.

"You're not serious, are you?" Dipper questioned. "I'm not going through that thing. You could be tricking us for all we know. Right, Mabel?  _Mabel?"_

Looking over to his sister, he saw that she had already began to crawl through the little door. Coraline stuck her tongue out at Dipper as she followed behind her.

"Seriously?" Dipper asked, quickly following behind his sister and Coraline.

 _Here goes nothing,_ Dipper thought to himself. 

Alas, Dipper had no choice but to admit he was wrong once he reached the other world through the door. The place was beautiful, and smelt of warm mouthwatering food.

"Hello, Coraline." A tall, black-haired woman with buttons for eyes (?!?!) said to Coraline, turning towards the group. "I see you brought...friends."

Dipper and Mabel glanced at each other when she said 'friends'. Just the tone of the woman's voice gave the impression that she wasn't very happy to see them, though her smile was trying its best to bury any negative emotion she had.

"Yes, I did." Coraline replied to the woman. "Oh, shoot, should I have asked first? I'm sorry if it's a problem-"

"No, no, no problem at all." The woman replied, interrupting Coraline and keeping that same fake smile plastered on her countenance. "You're just in time for dinner-breakfast food."

"I love dinner-breakfast food!" Mabel and Coraline said excitedly at the same time, smiling.

"Well, then, your friends are welcome to share." A glasses-wearing man with brown hair, the same button eyes, and a more genuine-seeming smile said to them. "I feel like we should be properly introduced first, though."

"Oh!" Coraline said. "Darn, I forgot. Dipper, Mabel, these are my...mom and dad. In this world, anyways."

It suddenly clicked in both Dipper and Mabel's heads that these people did indeed look just like Coraline's parents, except less drained of life, and y'know...with buttons for eyes.

"Hello there," Dipper said.

"How do you do?" Mabel asked, putting on a fake British accent for a laugh and tipping an imaginary hat. Coraline and her other parents giggled.

"I see why you like her so much, Coraline." Coraline's other mother stated, turning towards her daughter with a smile.

"Mom!" Coraline said, blushing (and in her head realizing she'd just called a copy she'd only known for a day her mother). "How did you...you're embarrassing me!"

"I'm just teasing, sweetie. Another pancake?"

"Yes, please!"

The other mother plopped another pancake on Dipper, Coraline, and Mabel's plates, but Dipper noticed his was a bit smaller. Maybe his mind was just playing games with him.

After finishing their pancakes and the rest of their dinner-breakfast food, the other father yawned and turned towards Dipper and Mabel.

"I'm getting tired." Coraline's other father said. "But we need to have an important discussion with Coraline."

"Yes, we do." Coraline's other mother restated. "We don't mean to be rude, but this sort of needs to be a private conversation..."

"Oh, no, no, you're fine!" Mabel replied, with a big smile on her face. "We'll be happy to step out. Right, Dipper?"

Dipper muttered something incomprehensible under his breath.

"It was really nice meeting you guys!" Mabel exclaimed.

"So long." Coraline's other father waved as Mabel dragged Dipper out through the door.

* * *

 

"I don't trust anything that just happened there." Dipper stated, walking home from Coraline's apartment with his sister. "They had _buttons for eyes_."

"Hey! Don't insult their culture." Mabel shot back. "You're just being paranoid. They seemed like really nice people! We got dinner-breakfast food!"

Dipper sighed. "The way to a Mabel's heart is through her stomach."

"Yep."

* * *

After making sure Dipper and Mabel were gone, Coraline's other mother changed her tone significantly for a second, turning towards her (daughter?) with a stern eye.

"I don't exactly...approve of your friends being here." Coraline's other mother stated. "I want this to be our special time, okay?"

Coraline was shocked by the rapid change in the conversation, but nodded in agreement.

"Now," The other mother continued, "I have something very important to discuss with you."

Something caught Coraline's eye that she hadn't noticed before. A blue-striped box with a red bow on it. Coraline's other father slid it to her.

"Go ahead and open it, sweetheart." Coraline's other mother said with a smile.

Coraline suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach. Her gut was telling her this wasn't a good idea...but what choice did she have?

She opened the box, and couldn't help but let out a brief gasp of horror as the contents of it processed in her brain. In the blink of an eye, everything she had thought about this other world began to change.


End file.
